The French tennis player, Marion Bartoli, was not, said John Inverdale, a looker. Cue outrage from all quarters. Of course Inverdale was wrong to say what he did, but it's important to work out why.
All of us, even those as long in the tooth as me, make judgments every day about the attractiveness of the people we meet. It's what nature has fitted us to do. We are hard-wired to be on the look out for a mate, and internally or otherwise, we are always sizing them up. Have Inverdale's critics never looked at a passer-by and thought "I don't fancy her much" or "he's alright"? Of course they have. They are crashing hypocrites.
The key words here are "internally or otherwise". Whilst it's OK, inevitable even, that we should judge other people's appearance, articulating our conclusions about them is rude. It's probably crass to complement someone on their beauty nowadays; certainly it is to do the reverse; disparaging them on air to an audience of millions is about as rude as you can get.
Inverdale has issued a sort-of apology, and Bartoli appears to have sort-of accepted it. Personally I wouldn't fancy a job which requires you to extemporise live, and where one lapse can get you fired.
It's funny how some of the most ardent advocates of tolerance can, when given the opportunity to be tolerant towards people they don't like, be the least forgiving of all.
